Nasu: Summer In Andalusia

With all the rats leaving a sinking ship, I’ve decided to create a safe house for refugee posts such as these.

The end of summer is approaching and it’s time for the third grand tour of this year: la Vuelta a España. Although not as much in the spotlights as the Tour de France or Giro d’Italia, I’ve managed to find a movie in which la Vuelta plays a central role. Nasu: Summer in Andalusia (2003) is a Japanese anime adapted from a short manga entitled Nasu. Directed by Kitarō Kōsaka, who did the animation supervision of Mononoke-Hime, Summer in Andalusia is the first Japanese anime displayed at the Cannes film festival.

Summer in Andalusia follows the story of Pepe Benengeli, a young domestique who became a pro-cyclist to escape his rather dull hometown in Andalusia. In the film, we see how Pepe escapes from the lead group as la Vuelta visits his hometown on a hot, long, and flat stage through Andalusia. He finds himself riding tête de la course through his hometown with the lead group and the rest of the pack chasing him hard towards the finish line. Meanwhile, his brother Angel just got married and is anxious to see him finish first.

Kōsaka paid quite some attention to the details and cycling aficionados may recognize Tacx Source water bottles, Elite Ciussi bottle cages, Campagnolo Ergopowers, and a German sprinter named Bezal riding Lightweight Obermayers. Furthermore, the jerseys and names of the teams Pamei, Kelcio, and P-Phone look all too familiar. Although the movements of the riders are not that suggestive as in les Triplettes de Belleville, special attention went to the rendering of the Andalusian landscape. Mind you, the final dash to the finish line is spectacularly drawn and really captures the tension, exhaustion, and the madness of the final 200 meters. Here, Kōsaka stays very close to the original drawings, which are worthwhile to take a look at (Chapters 5 and 6).

All and all, quite some entertaining 50 minutes that for the sake of completeness could not be left out (hope you’ll have some good times watching this one annukka). A sequel should appear this autumn.

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